Tag: news

Hello Again, WordPress Friends and Community!

Published on by Susi Bocks65 Comments

I’M BACK!!

The month of August was wonderful! Not only did I celebrate my 59th birthday but I enjoyed a lovely vacation with my husband in Mexico. Taking a step back from blogging gave me the much needed rest I was hoping for.

Not to say there weren’t some ups and downs. We enjoyed some excitement in Cancun due to Hurricane Grace! Thankfully, it was only a Category 1 but we experienced heavy winds! Oh, and our room ended up with lots of water. You can see how beautiful the beach was afterwards. The rest of the vacation was lovely and it was so hard to say goodbye.

Thanks everyone for the lovely comments on my Peace Out post, I hope I didn’t miss responding to anyone. If I did, please let me know! Also, since I didn’t read any blogs in August, please do share any links you think I should check out.

One of the reasons I wanted to take off August was to get back what felt had been missing in my writing. After much thought and reflection, I think it came down to me feeling pressured to provide content and specifically not the content I want to put out. So, I’ve decided that I will continue to do my reblogs three times a week, the challenges I’ve always participated in, and create new poetry the rest of the time. And I will only post once per day. Of course, this will change slightly when I post the featured The Short of It writer every Friday starting in January 2022.

I will no longer do stories because that just isn’t what turns me on the most about writing. My initial intent with IWH was to speak the truth about myself including occasional opionating and pontificating, sharing my thoughts and being philosophical, dredging up the past on worked through issues and sharing the writing of others’ precious work. I want to get back to my roots, so to speak. Stories, especially the ones from 5 Day Tales/Kindle Vella or anything more than 100 word stories requires a different kind of creativity that isn’t really the direction I want my writing to take.

Following this new schedule will allow me more time to submit my creations elsewhere but more importantly, by limiting daily posts, I will have more time for creativity. And hopefully, meet a need for those readers who read my contributions every day.

Speaking of Kindle Vella – please don’t forget you can read those stories uploaded for free if you use the FREE tokens they gave to the new readers! Every story that is read does pay a divident to the author, so please, go read them!! Thank you!

For your convenience, here are all the stories on Amazon!

The Little Red Suitcase

The Boss

Dipped in Yellow

Falling from the Tree

The Dark Park

An American Conflict

C

The Shifting Sands

Led Astray

3025

The Passageway

Bridge to the Stars

Secrets Between Lovers

News on The Short of It Submissions – it started off with a lot of interest and I’ve been in contact with many who have already been accepted and are scheduled to be featured in January – April! For those who sent in their submissions while I was off, I promise to be getting to you soon! 🙂 I’m so grateful for your support. And if you haven’t sent anything in yet, there is still time. Submissions will be accepted until December 31st.

That’s all for now! See you again tomorrow. ❤

Peace Out

Published on by Susi Bocks74 Comments
green palm plant during daytime
Jeremy Bishop – Unsplash

This is a message to all my readers, whether you’ve been here since the beginning a little over three and a half years ago or just started following me. While I have appreciated all the support, the interaction, the comments and the love, it’s time for me to take a rest and step back.

I’ve felt a gnawing in my brain that is taking bites out of my creativity. This has left me feeling empty while producing daily contributions to the blog. While I’m not lacking for inspiration, I do not feel as inspired and for this reason, I need to take some time to figure out where I need to head next. I’m sure it will be writing, always, but I need to understand if it means continuing such structured blogging as before or not.

I know many of those people who’ve been following the stories were expecting my next one to arrive on Kindle Vella in August but my brain, in its current state, has not found “the story” yet. Because I’ve been struggling to create it these last few weeks, with still nothing more than a few concepts and no material, this is what prompted me to decide to take the time off. I didn’t want to continue to feel so pressured to deliver when it seems I’m just not able to.

In addition, from taking a break from writing and reading blogs on WordPress, I will also leave Social Media behind for the most part. I do think this desire to detach is coming from feeling burned out. And this comes from many things – Covid, politics mostly – with a bit of aging and the new problems that come with it. I need a break!

For those of you who have submitted to The Short of It, rest assured that I will be still fully engaged in the reading of all your work and will communicate with you via email about the status of your contributions.

So, this is my last post for this month and I will be back in September. I will read your comments today, but after today, I’ll be off of WP until next month. Hopefully, by then I will have figured out a way forward. I appreciate your patience and understanding! I love you all!

Thank You on wooden blocks
Courtney Hedger – Unsplash

My First Review on Kindle Vella! :)

Published on by Susi Bocks13 Comments

How exciting!!! I look forward to seeing more. 🙂 Don’t forget, during the launch of this program, Kindle Vella is awarding people with 200 tokens to begin their reading journeys on this platform. That means you can read ALL my stories for FREE right now! Stay tuned for my new story coming in August. 🙂

For your convenience, here are all the stories so far!

The Little Red Suitcase

The Boss

Dipped in Yellow

Falling from the Tree

The Dark Park

An American Conflict

C

The Shifting Sands

Led Astray

3025

The Passageway

Bridge to the Stars

Secrets Between Lovers

July 1 is almost here! :)

Published on by Susi Bocks12 Comments

Just a reminder all you micro-poets and short, short story writers! The Short of It will be open to submissions from July 1 thru December 31, 2021. All selected pieces from this year will be featured in 2022.

CLICK HERE FOR CURRENT SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

I look forward to seeing previous favorites and a large influx of new talent!

Something New On The Horizon – Kindle Vella

Published on by Susi Bocks27 Comments

For all you creators and story tellers, here’s something new at KDP!! It’s not quite live yet but will be available on Amazon in a few months. In the meantime, get your stories up and published in preparation for new readers wanting to read your work. They are accepting all genres that your imagination likes to delve into! AND you will get paid for it should people choose to browse and invest in your library. It’s a wonderful new program that could create a whole new revenue stream for you. Check it out!

Amazon Kindle Vella

Reblog – Book Reviews – June 2021 – Dragonscale Clippings

Published on by Susi BocksLeave a comment

Featured among other good picks a wonderful review of Every Day I Pause by Freya Pickard!! Thank you, Freya!! I appreciate your continued love and support!! ❤

Dragonscale Clippings

Every Day I Pause by Susi Bocks

Mindfulness with a huge difference. I love this collection of poems, thoughts, reflections and stories. Reading this book kept me grounded through an extremely stressful business sale and house move. I found myself identifying with much of what Susi writes about. And the things I read that were new to my experiences both inspired and challenged me. Undefinable – this is a must read for anyone who needs some inspiration and reflection in their life!

Shadowrise by Tad Williams

I didn’t want this book to end! Tad Williams’ worlds are a delight to wander in. His writing is detailed and flows without slacking. His characters are charming and grotesque and the variety of cultures he writes about is staggering. In this volume, the separate storylines come together as the plot sharpens towards the climax. I have to read the last book soon!

And…

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The Short of It – Accepting Submissions Soon!

Published on by Susi Bocks2 Comments

Mark this date – JULY 1, 2021!! It will be here before you know it. 🙂

For submission guidelines, please CLICK HERE.
Please follow them to ensure your work is read.
I’m anxiously awaiting your exquisite thoughts!!

Perhaps your work could be featured in Volume 2 – 2022?
It won’t happen unless you submit!

For those who haven’t picked up a copy of Volume 1 yet, click on image to purchase it!

On Amazon

My review of ‘The Sound of Brilliance’ by Ingrid

Published on by Susi Bocks13 Comments
EIF Logo
Experiments in Fiction

Huge shoutout to Ingrid for a wonderful review! Her continued love and support of our efforts is appreciated. THANK YOU!!

I’ve just finished reading The Sound of Brilliance, an anthology of poems from ‘The Short of It’ series edited by Susi Bocks. As Susi herself states of the book:

This publication aims to find people with an interest and talent for micro-writing, whether their preferred form is poetry or stories, expressing themselves in 150 or fewer words. The other goal is to become an outlet for those desiring to read short bursts of meaningful expressions.

It’s a great idea, because many people lead hectic lifestyles, and can perhaps only spare a few minutes per day to read something at their leisure. Susi has curated this collection in such a way as to ensure that even the shortest time spent reading will be meaningful.

Featured authors

The Sound of Brilliance features many authors whose work I already know and love from the WordPress community, including Jaya Avendel, Lorraine Lewis and Ken Gierke. However, Susi’s contributor list extends beyond this community, and has enabled me to discover new authors who primarily feature their poetry on Instagram and Twitter, or have websites hosted elsewhere.

As well as being a delight to read, this book also serves as a great reference if you are looking to connect with other poets who write short-form poetry and read more of their work. You can read interviews with some of the authors on Susi’s website.

My Verdict

The Sound of Brilliance is an appropriate title for a book in which the words shine from the page. I have tried my hand at writing short-form poetry myself, so I understand the skill and craftsmanship involved in getting the words exactly right. Susi has curated a fine collection of authors who know how to do this perfectly.

If you are looking for an introduction to short-form poetry, a ‘who’s who’ guide to the online poetry world, or simply some words of wisdom to brighten your day, this book is for you! The Sound of Brilliance is available from Amazon.

Looking for something to read? Take a look at my Book Reviews section. If you have a poetry book you would like me to review, please contact me at experimentsinfiction@protonmail.com. My reviews are not sponsored, and the opinions expressed are entirely my own.